Services
Wood Shake and Shingle RoofingBased in Dallas, TX
Rot, splits and insects, on a material Dallas insurers increasingly refuse to write.
Get a Free EstimateWood Shake
What this job involves, and what moves the price.
Cedar shake was common on a certain era of Dallas house and it is disappearing, partly because it burns and partly because most Texas carriers now surcharge it heavily or decline to write it at all. That is worth knowing before spending money on one: a homeowner who repairs a cedar roof beautifully can still find their policy will not renew on it.
Where a cedar roof is being kept, the failures are predictable. Shakes split along the grain as they dry and the split opens a straight path to the felt. The exposed face weathers, loses its natural oils and goes gray and porous, which is cosmetic at first and structural later, because a porous shake holds water instead of shedding it. And where a shake stays damp, it rots, usually at the butt end and in the shaded north-facing slopes first.
Included Rot repair and shake replacement · Resealing to restore water repellency on sound shakes · Split and cracked shake replacement · Insect damage assessment and repair · Color restoration on weathered cedar
How It Works
Call or send the form
Say what you are seeing: a stain, a storm, missing shingles, or a roof you just want an opinion on.
Someone gets on the roof
And into the attic, because the underside of the decking tells you things the surface will not. The inspection is free.
Photographs and a scope
You cannot see your own roof, so you get pictures of what was found and a written scope before any number is agreed.
The work, then the sweep
A tear-off scatters nails across a property. The last job of the day is running a magnet over the drive, the lawn and the beds.
Before You Call
Wood Shake, answered.
Will my insurer cover a wood shake roof in Texas?
Increasingly not, or only with a large surcharge and a cosmetic exclusion. This has become the practical reason most Dallas cedar roofs are converted rather than repaired. Ask your carrier before you spend anything on one.
Can split shakes be repaired?
Individual shakes are replaced rather than mended. A split shake is removed and a new one slid in and fastened under the course above. The replacement will be pale against a weathered roof for a season or two.
Does resealing a cedar roof do anything?
It restores some water repellency and slows the drying that causes splitting. It does not reverse rot and it does not restore a shake that has gone soft. Treat it as maintenance on a sound roof, not a rescue for a failing one.
Why is my cedar roof rotting on one side only?
Usually the north-facing slope, or one shaded by trees. Less sun means it stays wet longer after every rain, and cedar rots where it cannot dry.
Why Homeowners Pick Us
Texas insurers are quietly walking away from wood shake.
Rot and carpenter bees both compound season on season, because bees return to existing galleries and extend them. What a shake roof is worth repairing depends partly on what your carrier will still write.
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The Difference
The part that decides whether it lasts.
Insects are the third one and the most underestimated. Carpenter bees bore clean round holes into weathered cedar and the damage compounds season on season, because bees return to existing galleries and extend them.
A cedar roof also needs air underneath it. Shakes were traditionally laid over spaced battens rather than solid decking specifically so the underside could dry. A cedar roof laid over solid plywood with no ventilation path rots from beneath while looking fine from the street.
Get a Free EstimateMore from Chavez Family Roofing
Wood Shake
Wood Shake, handled from the first inspection to the final nail.
Let's Work Together
Find out what the roof actually needs.
Someone gets on the roof and into the attic, photographs what is there, and tells you what it needs. That costs nothing, including when the answer is nothing yet.
Chavez Family Roofing 3816 W Clarendon Dr, Dallas, TX 75211 (469) 780-8781